ravnorodom

fred1 said:

I don't get the RollingSquare AirCard Pro. Is it a battery or just simple FindMy device thingie? Why bother making external FindMy device when there's an already a built-in in iPhone? Strange product.

You put it with something you want to find. Wallet, suitcase, favorite book, soft tacos, . . . 

The possibilities are virtually unlimited. Or even with your iPhone if you want to be extra sure of finding it.

danox said:

9secondkox2 said:

Great article. 

I’d disagree with the last bit though. 

The iPhone wasn’t a gamble. 

The cell gone market was unbelievably massive. Anyone who launched a decent product was going to profit. 

Apple has numerous safety cushions going for it going into that market:

1 the Apple fan base. 

At the time, rabid. Ready to jump on anything new. 

2. The success of iPod - and the major desire to see it incorporated into a phone. The ROKR was an initial stab, but mostly by partner Motorola and it only served to make folks want an apple made device that did much better than that half-hearted cash grab. There was massive pent-up demand for it. 

3. An internal team that was absolutely killing it with vision and implementation - from the multitouch ui tech to the rubber band effect to the basically “all screen design” of its day, to running an actually cabpable OS, it was an “aha” moment through and through. 

Literally the only challenge apple had to face was that it was a newcomer. So the competitors pushed a media assault and the typical “but that’s not how it’s always been done” tech/luddite outlets were trying to poo-poo. Meanwhile, and yet… it sold. So compelling was it, that it was a success even at launch despite having pretty sucky texting features. But dang if it didn’t work great as a phone, have game-changing voicemail, email, and web browsing features, and was also the best iPod ever. 

Everyone wanted an iPod and everyone needed a phone. Pretty simple recipe for success. It was quite obvious actually. Not so much a risk. More like a “shoot me if I don’t do this” kind of thing. 

Contrast with the Vision Pro, where no one was really asking for it, internal staff wasn’t excited about - actually had concerns, there is no killer product it folds into itself, and has met a somewhat tepid /polarizing response from those who’ve tried it (think Gayle king vs developer who needs it to sell in order to make money from their app). 

Whereas the iPhone succeeded in combining things that people already do and love - take their music with them, take their internet and email with them, and use stowable phones - the Vision Pro suffers by basically just trying to cram a computer into something nobody likes to have - a device strapped to their face/head while tethered to a battery pack that they have to also wear. The iPhone, you could use and forget. It fits in with your life and enhances it. The Vision Pro - you have to fit in with it. 

The iPhone was an unbelievable convergence of everything people loved in a form factor that was so far ahead of its time, it’s basically unchanged today - and all competitors could do was outright copy. 

The iPhone was a once in a lifetime product, not just a spec upgrade of a familiar concept. It also jumped into a lucrative market and took over. 

The Vision Pros problem is that it’s likely the best headset ever made, but that particular market isn’t the hot rage that some had hoped it would be. It will be a nice niche system for those who want it. 

The iPhone, however, is and was an absolute must-have. 

Anyone? Intel, Microsoft, AMD, and Nvidia completely missed the mobile computer boat but Google had a heads up with Eric “the mole” Schmidt which helped them immensely, and yet most of the Android OEM hardware companies make poor knockoffs with little profit, the smartphones get by but the tablets are poorly executed still to this day and Chromebooks are not far behind and they seem to just exist as poor performing devices that people/schools put up with like the (giant power brick) Microsoft Surface line or the Microsoft mini PC line of compromises.